Star formation induced by cloud–cloud collisions and galactic giant molecular cloud evolution

Star Formation and Galactic Evolution

Molecular cloud regulated star formation in galaxies

We describe a numerical implementation of star formation in disk galaxies, in which the conversion of cooling gas to stars in the multiphase interstellar medium is governed by the rate at which molecular clouds are formed and destroyed. In the model, clouds form from thermally unstable ambient gas and get destroyed by feedback from massive stars and thermal conduction. Feedback in the ambient p...

Massive Star Formation in the W49 Giant Molecular Cloud: Implications for the Formation of Massive Star Clusters

We present results from JHKs imaging of the densest region of the W49 molecular cloud. In a recent paper (Alves & Homeier 2003), we reported the detection of (previously unknown) massive stellar clusters in the well-known giant radio HII region W49A, and here we continue our analysis. We use the extensive line-of-sight extinction to isolate a population of objects associated with W49A. We const...

Star Formation and Molecular Clouds towards the Galactic Anti-Center

The Galactic Anticenter region hosts a a number of massive molecular cloud complexes, some of which are currently actively forming stars. Two major OB associations, Gem OB1 and Aur OB1, are found in this direction, each with numerous massive stars and a supernova remnant. The dominant region of star formation is centered around the Sh 2-235 complex and the nearby regions AFGL 5142, 5144, and 51...

Galaxy Collisions and Star Formation

We present a brief overview of some recent observations of colliding galaxies and relevant numerical simulations. These are compared, and details of the locations and history of collision induced star formation are explored, with possible application to star formation at earlier epochs.